This article contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 5, "Night," including who the unmasked Sith Lord is.
Star Wars: The Acolyte's fifth episode, "Night," was a wild one. Not only did the episode take out half the main cast, it also revealed the identity of the Sith Lord (which fans have been lovingly calling "Darth Teeth"). It's Qimir, Mae's seemingly bumbling companion who was hiding in plain sight as her Master the entire time.
However, one point from the episode stuck out to me. The creators were very careful with Qimir's wording in "Night." After Jedi Master Sol asks what he is, Qimir answers, "I have no name. But the Jedi like you might call me... Sith." He specifically seeks freedom and, "The freedom to wield my power the way I like without having to answer to Jedi like you."
He finishes his villain monologue, saying, "I don't make the rules. The Jedi do, and the Jedi say I can't exist."
During his whole villain spiel, at no point does Qimir call himself a Sith. He only uses that term because it's what the Jedi would call him. This entire exchange reminded me of another Dark Sider. While this Force user isn't canon, this is similar to the Season 1 Star Wars: Visions episode, "The Elder."
In "The Elder," Jedi Master Tajin Crosser and his padawan Dan G'vash seek a dark presence in an Outer Rim world. Dan is eager to fight a Sith, but Tajin is careful to keep his padawan's excitement in check as the Sith have been gone for hundreds of years. Later, when the Jedi are separated, a red blade-wielding old man approaches Dan. In their exchange, it's Dan who calls the Elder a Sith.
However, the Elder puts down that idea, saying, "The Sith became far too obsessed with trying to outwit each other. It resulted in them completely neglecting their destiny. And so, they are now extinct." With that, he attacks Dan, nearly killing the padawan.
After Tajin arrives and defeats the Elder, he speaks with Dan about their encounter. Tajin explains that "Perhaps was once part of the Sith but then somehow broke away."
In a "Star Wars is like poetry; it rhymes" moment, I could not stop thinking about "The Elder" after the events of The Acolyte's "Night." In both cases, the Sith are supposedly extinct; however, here is a new dark side person appearing out of the blue. Fans know that the Sith are still around, but the Jedi Order and their hubris believe they are gone. In both, the Jedi label the Dark Siders as Sith, not the dark Force-users themselves.
Qimir reminded me so much of the Elder. He claims it's the Jedi who makes the rules about who and what he is, even if he doesn't seem himself that way. He wants freedom to do what he wants with his power. Like the Elder, perhaps Qimir even wants freedom from the Sith Order and what they represent. Maybe he wishes to do his own thing like the Elder. From Nightsisters to Convocation of the Force, Star Wars has more Force users than just Jedi and Sith. Perhaps the reason that Qimir wants an acolyte this entire time is to create something new and unique.
It just really struck me how Qimir does not call him a Sith, especially at a time when they are supposed to be extinct. The Acolyte's creators are really careful with how they word things around their baddie, and it seems like they might have taken a page from Star Wars: Visions in the process.